Search Continues For Escapee

MIAMI -- The manhunt continued Friday for a tattooed bank robber and accused killer who escaped from the Dade County Jail during a rain storm on Thursday.

Michael Thomas Savich, 53, is a professional bank robber who held up seven Dade and Broward County banks from September 1984 to February 1985. During one robbery, a bank guard was killed.

Savich was awaiting trial on murder in the 1984 shooting of the bank guard at the Peoples National Bank, 19105 Biscayne Blvd., when he bolted from the jail Thursday.

The robber, who already had been convicted of the seven South Florida bank holdups, climbed over a wall when other inmates ran indoors to avoid a downpour. The guards failed to make a routine count until after lunch, when Savich was found to be missing.

Police again advised Friday that Savich should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Savich was convicted in Brooklyn in 1976 of bank robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released in 1982 and began robbing South Florida banks two years later. He also has been identified in armed bank robberies in Atlanta, police said.

During his holdups in South Florida, he stole more than $45,000 from local banks.

He was convicted of holding up the Sun Bank, 2747 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, on Jan. 11, 1985, and escaping with $3,031. He was convicted of robbing the Pan American Bank, 4601 Sheridan St., Hollywood, of $10,245 on Feb. 4, 1985.

Savich has blue eyes and brown hair. Tattooed on his right forearm is a heart with the word ``Mom`` inside. On his left arm, he has a cross with ``Father.``

It was the second escape in a week at the Dade County Jail. A man held without bail on cocaine charges impersonated another prisoner and was released on bail.